We had a few drinks and decided to record a podcast.
You’re welcome!
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Crystal Escobar
· in Podcast
We had a few drinks and decided to record a podcast.
You’re welcome!
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS
Check out this episode!
· in Podcast
Here is PART TWO of our marriage counseling session with Natasha Helfer Parker.
We share some of our pitfalls since discussing openly about pornography use.
Natasha Helfer Parker, a licensed marriage and family therapist
and certified sex therapist coaches Sean and I through sexual shame and trauma.
Natasha has 20 years experiencecounseling individuals, couples, and families. Her areas of expertise includes working within
the intersections of faith, life transitions and sexuality.
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Check out this episode!
A note from Sean
“Of all the challenging things this Mormon faith transition experience has unearthed for us, this sex stuff has been the most confusing and painful. Painful in and out of the church truthfully. We share very private details of our process with you in hopes that it can help. We ask for your grace should you listen. Not everyone will see things the way we do. No need to judge as you have the right to do what works for you and your marriage. We respect that. The mutual arrangements we are making in our marriage may not work for another. Each marriage can and probably will be a little different. Our hope is that you can perceive our sincere desire to help others who are confused sexually as we have been. Should lack of education, false beliefs and secrecy prevail, marriages probably will suffer. That is our opinion anyways.
We have had to face the reality that sexual things are complicated and we have had to seek professional help, in this case Natasha Helfer Parker has been counseling us. She has been a great help to us and we love her.
Sometimes we have to face the reality that in order for our relationship to transcend, we must be vulnerable/transparent/authentic. It is so scary! Will you still love me when you know the real me? Crystal knows everything now, everything there is and ever was, I’ve held nothing back as you will see in the session. Radical honesty. Does she still love me? 🥺 I feel more love from her than I have ever in my life. How could that be!? I can’t believe it. I want to pinch myself. She seems giddy to be with me and to spend time together. I don’t think you can fake that. We can’t anyways. Both of us have always worn our emotions on our sleeves. 😆 if something ain’t right, no matter how small, you are gonna know about it and it has got to be addressed before we can even be cordial to one another. 🤪 Sometimes I think we are so childish, both of us! Embarrassed 😩 We are both so damn emotional. It’s hilarious. We have now been married 15 years. I am so in love with you Crystal Escobar!!!!! 💕 My love for you has grown beyond what I thought was even possible. Funny how I always felt jealous when people would say they married their “best friend.” I never truly felt that. I was kind of jealous of those people. I can truly say now that my best friend in the world is also my wife. We have never played so hard, laughed so much, cried so much, been so brutally open and honest, it has all worked together to cause this new found friendship. You know how you can love your kids and not like them sometimes. 😂 I think the same with marriage. You can love someone and not like them a lot of the time. 🤷♂️ Now I have both. Oh and sometimes we still want to kill each other, just keepin it real. I love her, always have, but now I just enjoy the hell out of her as a friend too which has been so much fun! She is my favorite person. We have become 1. Mushy stuff but I just need to impress upon you that this openness and investment has been critical! Thank you to my dear friend Adam M Adam M Archer who suggested counseling. He said, “don’t be too proud. If the foundation of your home had a big crack in it, you wouldn’t hesitate to drop 20k to fix it would you? What is your relationship worth?”
Well we love you all so much. Look what you made us do. 😳”
Sean
· in Podcast
As we’ve embarked on this spiritual journey outside of organized religion, we’ve encountered quite a few bumps in the road.
It’s to be expected as we work to detangle all the cultural and religious beliefs embedded in every aspect of our relationship.
We are working through them one by one, and with careful examination deciding what we want to keep and what we want to discard.
With the professional counseling advice from, marriage and sex therapist, Natasha Helfer Parker, we’ve been able to redefine what intimacy means to us.
We’ve come to realize our lack of education around healthy sexuality and we hope to share our new found awareness and understanding around such taboo topics.
Listen to part one of this two part series where Sean and I get even more vulnerable than ever before. Sharing some things that feel very personal, but see the need for more conversations around such things. Especially when coming out of such a misinformed system that many of us were a part of.
We are now taking a good look at what the research is telling us, rather than what our church leaders have taught us.
I have to admit that things have felt so much lighter lately. I didn’t realize the weight of shame and guilt I was carrying all these years. You don’t know how heavy it is until you finally allow yourself to put it down.
Natasha Helfer Parker, a licensed marriage and family therapist
and certified sex therapist coaches Sean and I through sexual shame and trauma.
Natasha has 20 years experiencecounseling individuals, couples, and families. Her areas of expertise includes working within
the intersections of faith, life transitions and sexuality.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS
Check out this episode!
· in Podcast
My interview with Morgan and Jared Higdon.
After years of issues stacking up on Morgan’s ‘shelf’, it suddenly came crashing down.
Morgan and her husband Jared (a.k.a. Sister Jensen) started a YouTube channel called, “My Spiritual Life”.
In their vlogs and humorous skits, they share their perspective and problems during their transition out of the Mormon Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints).
Leaving the Mormon church can feel very scary, and very isolating. Their purpose in creating their channel is so that none of you have to go it alone.
Subscribe to their YouTube channel
HERE
Follow them on my instagram account!
@MySpiritualLife1
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· in Podcast
Emotions are just energy and all energy can be transformed. Today Sean and I talk about our anger. How we’ve been learning to channel that powerful energy into a constructive purpose.
Why we left the church and still almost a year and a half later, “can’t leave it alone”.
“Use that anger. You write it. You paint it. You dance it. You march it. You vote it. You do everything about it.”
~ Maya Angelou
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· in Podcast
“It was 2006 and my faith crisis was at its peak. I remember laying on my front room floor wishing the earth would swallow me up. It would be so much easier than walking this path of confusion. I knew life would never be the same again.
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Thank you for stopping by! I love connecting with other like minded women. This website is all about how to become the best version of yourself as you strive for balance in motherhood, business, and overall personal growth. Let’s work together! Email me at crystal@escoweb.net
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